ABSTRACT
Despite the enormous potential applications of polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSN) [1], their commercialization, which was estimated to exceed 500 kt/year by 2009 [2], grew slowly in the last years mainly due to difculties in dispersing the nanosized silicate layers within the polymer bulk at the industrial scale. Commercial organoclays consist of powders whose particles have dimensions in the 1-30 μm range, and each particle contains an average of over 1 million platelets. Thus, it is a real challenge to practically reach the high level of clay exfoliation that would grant the performance improvements theoretically anticipated for these materials. Recent studies carried out by small-angle x-ray scattering, light scattering, and electron imaging have shown that large-scale morphological disorder is present in nanocomposites, regardless of the level of dispersion, leading to substantial lowering of mechanical properties, compared to predictions based on idealized nanocomposite morphology [3].
